Cabinet door construction

ABSTRACT

A cabinet construction and means are disclosed which makes it possible for even the most unskilled to properly hang wooden doors on steel kitchen cabinets, for instance, wherein the doors are notched at opposing edges adjacent the edge of the door which is to be hingedly secured by means of a specific hinge and adapter plate assembly wherein easy mounting of doors in a proper fashion is achieved.

States Patent United 1 3,604,154

[72] Inventor Frank J. Curran 2,527.403 10/1950 Davis et all 16/135 Downers Grove, Ill. 3,403,953 10/1968 Clark 49/501 X 1 1 r p .3 1970 FORElGN PATENTS [22] Fi ed e 6, l5 4 I9 Patented Sept. I971 76,05 6/ 69 France 16/135 [73] Assignee Geneva Industries, Inc. Primary Examinerl(enneth Downey AltomeyMann, Brown, McWilliams & Bradway [54] CABINET DOOR CONSTRUCTION 10 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 49/501,

49/388, 16/135 [5] Ill. Cl E06!) 3/00 ABSTRACT; A cabinet construction and means arc disclosed Field of sfll'ch which makes it possible for even the most unskilled to 16/135 properly hang wooden doors on steel kitchen cabinets, for instance, wherein the doors are notched at opposing edges ad- [56] References C'ted jacent the edge of the door which is to be hingedly secured by UNITED STATES PATENTS means of a specific hinge and adapter plate assembly wherein 2,385,169 9/ 1945 Stone 16/ 135 easy mounting of doors in a proper fashion is achieved.

PATENTEU SEPI 41971 3.604.154

INVENTOR FRANK J CURRAN g BY Wm, Ewan ATTORNEYS CABINET DOORCONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Generally speaking, the invention pertains to a cabinet construction using specific means for mounting wooden doors to, for instance, steel kitchen cabinets; With the advent of the modernization of dwellings, especially kitchens, for example, the average housewife has been taken up with the modern trend towards wood decor. For the most part, wooden kitchen cabinets are costly in that they require skilled craftsmen, such as carpenters, to build and otherwise fabricate these generally customized fixtures. Because of this, there is a need to be able to use existing steel kitchen cabinets which have been fabricated on an assembly line basis and hence are less costly than wooden ones, and to modernize these existing cabinets so as to be able to provide wooden doors of a selected color and/or grain finish. By the means of this invention it is now possible to customize, to the individual taste of the housewife, the decor of her kitchen. 'The provision of wooden doors having opposed notches adjacent the edge at which the door is to be hung on a steel cabinet and the use of a particular hinge structure and adapter plate makes all of this possible. Hence, one seeking to modernize a kitchen merely disposes of the existing steel cabinet doors and by the use of the herein disclosed invention buys, for instance, prenotched, unfinished doors which he, himself, may finish to his own liking, and by a simple operation, hang new wooden doors on his existing steel cabinets to add beauty and a personal touch to the decorative features of the kitchen.

Generally speaking, steel cabinets have always been provided with steel doors and, of course, the means of securing steel to steel is oftentimes made by the use of machine screws. When using fibrous materials such as wood, different securement and attachment means must be resorted to, since wood is not structurally the same as metal and hence will not be satisfactorily handled in the same manner. So as to be able to replace steel doors with wooden doors, the herein disclosed invention facilitates this in a simple, straightforward and economical manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In an exemplary embodiment, the invention pertains to a combinationof an open-faced cabinet with means to attach wooden doors thereto wherein the doors each have oppositely disposed notches at the extreme edges adjacent the point that they will be attached to the cabinet. The length of the notches with respect to the point of attachment is generally greater than the height thereof so as to add aesthetic quality by minimizing the hinge lines of the door and to deemphasize the point of attachment of hinge structure. Means for attaching the doors comprise a hinge means having a first member secured to a structural support of the cabinet and asecond member being hingedly connected to said first member and extending lengthwise from the point of hinge connection a distance less than the length of the notch. An adapter member is secured to the said second member and is integrally formed with an inside and an outside extending flange connected by a transverse web, the web being of a span sufficient to correspond substantially to the thickness of the door so that at least one of the flanges engages a face thereof and wherein the length of the flanges are about the same as the length'of the notch, with means to secure the said one flange to the door as by means of wood screws or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view of a cabinet structure using the herein disclosed invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a wooden door modified to practice the invention;

FIG.'3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the mode in whicha wooden'door is attached to a supporting cabinet structure;

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Throughout the several views of the drawings, like numerals of reference will designate like elements throughout and it will be seen that wooden doors such'as 2 generally of the unfinished variety are provided with-the conventionallyfound knob 4, but so as to hang them properly on a steel cabinet structure such as 6 of common construction, each of the doors 2 are provided with oppositely disposed cutouts or notches 8 adjacent the edge 10 along which door 2 will hingedly move. The length and depth of notches 8 are only sufficient to accommodate support structures 12L and 12R for either the left-hand or right-hand positions, respectively. By making notches 8 as small as possible, cleaner; straight lines of the cabinet as seen in FIG. 1 are obtained, thereby minimizing the predominance of support structures 12L and 12R in the overall cabinet assembly. The securement or support structure 12L for hanging, for instance, the left-hand door as seen in FIG. 1, comprises a first memberl4 formed by stamping or the like having flat portion 16 integrally connected to an L- shaped portion 18 which is normal to the plane of flat portion 16. The L-shaped portion 18 is provided with spaced apertures such as 20 so that it may be secured to a conventional metal support structure 6 by means of machine screws such as 22. Hingedly connected to first member 14 as by means of rivet 24 having a washer or similar bearing element 25 associated therewith (FIG. 3) is extending plate member 26 underlying the member 14 and having a thickness similar to and 1 being fabricated in similar manner as member 14 and having twospaced apertures 28 for receiving adapter plate member 30 in overlying or abutting surface relationship. Member 30 isprovided with an inside flange 32 and an outside flange 34 which does not extend as great a distance as the inside flange 32 for support reasons of door 2 and for aesthetic purposes. Connecting flanges 32 and 34 is transverse web 36, the width of which is almost identical to the width of the door 2 and the length of which is less than the length of notches 8. It will be noted that the combined length of either of the flanges 32or 34 plus the exposed section of member 26 (that portion not 1 covered by adapter member 30 as seen in FIG. 3) equals about the length of notch 8. Likewise, notch 8 is of sufficient depth to accommodate the assembly as seen in FIG. 3 so that the exposed upper surface of web 36 is flush with the door's edge. Web 36 is provided with two spaced apertures, such as 38, so as to receive, for instance, screws 40 so that the assembly may be secured together by securing web 36 to plate member 26 and at the same time retain structure 12L in rigid secured relationship with respect to door 2. To insure this rigidity, inside flange 32 is provided with spaced apertures 40 so that wood screws 42 may insure proper securement. The reasons for the' relative lengths of the flanges 32 and 34 should now be apparent considering the fact that as little metal as possible" should be seen in the view as shown in FIG. 1, and in order to obtain proper support and to have the number of screws entering the door at any one area sufficiently spaced so as not to weaken the same, the inside flange 32 is made'longer than flange 34. Obviously, wood screws such as 42 are not so long that they would project through the intended exposed surface of wood door 2. It should be apparent that the hinge structures or elements shown in FIG. 5 and designated 16 and 26 are essentially as shown in FIG. 8 but turned or flipped over so as to be used in the right-hand or 12R arrangement. Thus, since there is no difference in the fabrication or construction, the supporting member may be designated by like numerals of reference. Additionally it should be apparent that the adapter plate or member 30 is the same regardless of position used, whether rightthand or left-hand, and meets the same criteria previously described and illustrated.

With respect to FIG. 7 and, for that matter, FIG. 8, it will be noted that member 44 is a mirror image of member 46 in that the respective L-shaped portions 48 and 50 curve oppositely to one another for mounting in the leftand right-hand positions, respectively. The same criteria, however, for these members and elementsas previously described for the same showing in the FIGS. 3 and structure apply. It should now also be obvious that the 12R structure depicted in FIG. 6 with the exception of adapter plate 30 is the same as the 12L structure depicted in FIG. 7. In other words, merely by turning the structures over, they have interchangeable uses with respect to the lower edge of a left-hand-hung door and the upper edge of a right-hand-hung door and of course the same is true for the FIGS. 5 and 8 structures. While not necessary, the surface of each of the extending members destined to be located in the cutout portion of the door 2 in the area of the notch 8 may have an upraised portion around the apertures as, for instance, shown in FIG. 7. Here, upraised portions 52 are clearly discernible and the extending member 51 (as like portion 26) may have a slight bend or offset such as 54 such that this member will cause the exterior surface 56 of support member 58 to be almost substantially in the same plane as the exterior surface 60 of adapter plate 30, best seen in relation to the FIG. 3 structures.

Thus, it should now be apparent that by a simple expedient it is now possible to replace steel cabinet doors with wooden ones merely by notching out the wooden doors, marking off appropriate lines to accommodate the support structure, making the necessary apertures and hanging finished or nonfinished wood doors to beautify the kitchen decor.

The embodiments of this invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. The combination of an open-faced cabinet, means to attach wooden doors thereto, and wood doors, each door having oppositely disposed notches at the extreme edges thereof adjacent the point of attachment, the length of said notches with respect to said point of attachment being greater than the height thereof, each of said means comprising a hinge assembly having a first member secured to a structural support of said cabinet, a second member hingedly connected to said first member and extending lengthwise from the point of hinged connection a distance less than the length of said notch, an adapter member secured to said second member and being integrally formed with an inside and an outside extending flange connected by a transverse web, said web being conterminous with the lengthwise extending portion of the second member and of a span sufficient to receive said door so that at least one of said flanges engages a face thereof and said length being less than the length of said notch, said second member having an offset adjacent its connection to the first member whereby the exposed surface of the first member is disposed flush with the surface of said web, and means to secure said one flange to said door with said web disposed flush with an edge surface of said door.

2. The combination in accordance with claim I wherein said adapter member extends over said second member in secured relationship.

3. The combination in accordance with claim 2 wherein said inside flange is of greater distance measured from said web than said outsideflange.

4. The combination in accordance with claim 3 wherein said web and inside flange are provided with spaced apertures, and,

said means to secure them to said door are wood screws.

5. The combination in accordance with claim 4 wherein the hinged connection between said first and second member is obtained by a rivet means of attachment.

6. A fastening member for securing wood cabinet doors to a supporting structure and being characterized as having opposed notched-out sections at which said doors are to be hingedly hung, comprising a first member adapted to be secured to said supporting structure, a second member hingedly connected to said first member and extending lengthwise from the point of hinged connection a distance less than the length of said notch, an adapter member secured to said second member and being integrally formed with an inside and an outside extending flange connected by a transverse web, said web being conterminous with the lengthwise extending portion of the second member and of a span sufficient to receive said door so that at least one of said flanges engages a face thereof, said web and second member having a length less than the length of said notch, said second member having an offset adjacent its connection to the first member whereby the exposed surface of the first member is disposed flush with the surface of said web, and said web disposed flush with an adjacent edge surface of the door.

7. The fastening member in accordance with claim 6 wherein said adapter member extends over said second member in secured relationship.

8. The fastening member in accordance with claim 7 wherein said inside flange is of greater distance measured from said web than said outside flange.

9. The fastening member in accordance with claim 8 wherein said web and inside flange are provided with spaced apertures.

10. A fastening member in accordance with claim 9 wherein said first member adapted to be secured to said supporting structure comprises a first substantially flat portion integrally connected to an L-shaped portion bent in a plane normal thereto, said L-shaped portion having apertures therethrough for securement as by means of screws to said supporting structure. 

1. The combination of an open-faced cabinet, means to attach wooden doors thereto, and wood doors, each door having oppositely disposed notches at the extreme edges thereof adjacent the point of attachment, the length of said notches with respect to said point of attachment being greater than the height thereof, each of said means comprising a hinge assembly having a first member secured to a structural support of said cabinet, a second member hingedly connected to said first member and extending lengthwise from the point of hinged connection a distance less than the length of said notch, an adapter member secured to said second member and being integrally formed with an inside and an outside extending flange connected by a transverse web, said web being conterminous with the lengthwise extending portion of the second member and of a span sufficient to receive said door so that at least one of said flanges engages a faCe thereof and said length being less than the length of said notch, said second member having an offset adjacent its connection to the first member whereby the exposed surface of the first member is disposed flush with the surface of said web, and means to secure said one flange to said door with said web disposed flush with an edge surface of said door.
 2. The combination in accordance with claim 1 wherein said adapter member extends over said second member in secured relationship.
 3. The combination in accordance with claim 2 wherein said inside flange is of greater distance measured from said web than said outside flange.
 4. The combination in accordance with claim 3 wherein said web and inside flange are provided with spaced apertures, and said means to secure them to said door are wood screws.
 5. The combination in accordance with claim 4 wherein the hinged connection between said first and second member is obtained by a rivet means of attachment.
 6. A fastening member for securing wood cabinet doors to a supporting structure and being characterized as having opposed notched-out sections at which said doors are to be hingedly hung, comprising a first member adapted to be secured to said supporting structure, a second member hingedly connected to said first member and extending lengthwise from the point of hinged connection a distance less than the length of said notch, an adapter member secured to said second member and being integrally formed with an inside and an outside extending flange connected by a transverse web, said web being conterminous with the lengthwise extending portion of the second member and of a span sufficient to receive said door so that at least one of said flanges engages a face thereof, said web and second member having a length less than the length of said notch, said second member having an offset adjacent its connection to the first member whereby the exposed surface of the first member is disposed flush with the surface of said web, and said web disposed flush with an adjacent edge surface of the door.
 7. The fastening member in accordance with claim 6 wherein said adapter member extends over said second member in secured relationship.
 8. The fastening member in accordance with claim 7 wherein said inside flange is of greater distance measured from said web than said outside flange.
 9. The fastening member in accordance with claim 8 wherein said web and inside flange are provided with spaced apertures.
 10. A fastening member in accordance with claim 9 wherein said first member adapted to be secured to said supporting structure comprises a first substantially flat portion integrally connected to an L-shaped portion bent in a plane normal thereto, said L-shaped portion having apertures therethrough for securement as by means of screws to said supporting structure. 